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My project is all about creating a new brand. When creating a brand you need to think about how your going to sell this brand, and with my brand I can see it selling in a physical form like a shop. I am familiar with skate shops, as I have previously bought various boards from shops and skate clothing.

Therefore this is howI I wanted to present my final piece within the exhibition, as if I was setting my brand up in the real world. I went round a few skate shops to see how they presented their boards. As seen on the images below, in ever skate shop this is the typical presentation of the boards. Easy to see and easy to compare. A clear vision of all the boards, in order for the buyer to select the his preferred board.

I care a lot about the visuals, and to me this appear aesthetically pleasing, all lined up neatly in some sort of order.

However after speaking to my tutor, I was made aware that I have more than just a wall to work with. I began to think about how I could make my exhibition stand out and involve some sort of 3D structure. I began to picture ramps coming out of the way and hanging the boards with fish wire, with the art work faced towards to viewers. However when I began to think about he visuals of this, I thought it would have looked messy and not in proportion to what the ramps at a skatepark look like, as they are massive, and wouldn’t fit within the exhibition. My boards also come without wheels, So it wouldn’t represent the the idea of people riding the skateboards on ramps realistically, thereof is stuck to my original idea of the shop layout.

The exhibition space.

My exhibition space:

It took a long while to consider how to present the boards. The wall in the exhibition isnt strong enough to hold the boards on with brackets, like in the shop, and it also meant drilling into my boards small hole, I didn’t want this as it would ruin my designs. Therefore i thought on holding the boards on a plank of wood.

The wood looks like this, with a small indent for the boards t sit in without having to touch or drill into the boards. Ollie made the shelf for me as he was more DIY trained than me, and had the correct tools to do it. the shelf was around just short of 1 and a half metres long, and left around a 5cm gap between each board. This board then drilled into he wall as seen on the image.

I then had to decide in which order I wanted to boards to sit.

I tried these various layouts:

I adjusted the boards to see if they looked better in: colour order: wonky, similar image and style. And I decided on the final output, the last image. I chose to present the boards in that order as I like how each board on the outside has the Glide text logo, Then I had to have my strongest board in the middle. I decided to stand them straight for a more organised and tidy look.

I also keep the board a wooden finish as it carries on that rustic and homemade vibe, which my brand follows throughout.

I designed some sticker which I was hoping to get printed off however I ran out of money. I wanted to include the inspiration of Verner Patron in some way to my brand. Skateboarding company have to have stickers with their brand, its a key part of merchandise, as they are used to put onto the boards, almost like a way of tagging, how graffiti was used, but through stickers.

I was so pleased with how the images turned out I felt as though they needed to be shown of more. Therefore I quickly came up with a simple look book. By creating the pages myself I used a website called doxdirect.com which simple did everything for you. I chose they paper weight of 300, as I know from past experiments of printing it is a good quality sturdy paper to print onto. The book cost me 5 pounds.

The pages are the following:

However when the book came the introduction page was unreadable. And as it was so expensive and just a quick book made, I didn’t have the time or money to print off again in time. Therefore it will not be shown in my exhibition.

All images are my own and have been scanned in as they were film photographs

With my initial board designs I wanted to keep it strictly based on the photography which I had produced from the 35mm camera, as I felt the pictures as a whole were a piece of art, through the quality of them, vintage edge, and often light leeks. However I did want to experiment using graphics and typography into the designs, too see if I would like them with abut more going on. I adjusted a few pictures overlaying them and repeating them throughout some of the designs. I also took inspiration from David Carson when it came to adding text onto some of the images. In a number of his surfing posters he wouldn’t follow a strict layout but random place related senates/words around the imagery, followed by other drawn on imagery.

I didn’t have the time to do this. as I would have liked to have tried to draw onto of the images. But due a mess up with my film being produced, I got my pictures late and didn’t have time to print of and scan in continous designs. Therefore I stuck to using my brand name and logo as repeated imagery. But I did also include the name and logo on some of the designs that is what tends to be included on general boards, to state the brand.

FINAL BOARDS

I came to a decision of these final designs through what I thought represented my brand perfectly.

Board 1:100%

has been taken from this image:

I then cut around the 100% sign repeating it in different colours on the design. I like this image as it was taken on the pier fair ground. Which is a significant location in the documentary dog town and z-boys. The 100% stood out to me not jus through the vibrant colours, but the meaning behind heather stood next to the sign as 100% no cares. As corny as it sounds, I asked heather to go over to the sign and pose asif she hasn’t a care in the world. The movement of my models, and the way they pose through the pictures, ha to represent to my audience that nostalgic feel, to be able to be free.

Board 2: Polaroids

With my polaroid camera is took the following images:

As soon as the scan came through I just loved the look of the washed out colour, the instant age given to the film. And this is something I then knew I had to represent through one of the boards. By using these as a basic background, is a dynamic way to represent the time and era of my brand. I entirely think when using a polaroid camera you are always wanting to show the best times. As my Nana said when she used hers you would only capture the best moments as the film was so expensive, therefore that is what I wanted to show my brand is about, experiencing the best moments. I added the Glide name in logo above to add some layer to my board, adding a twist and representing the name as is stands on the images.

Board 3: Pink

Coming from the original image off:

I love this photo as a whole, the bleached out light, and the way everything is so perfectly laid out on the image. However I wanted to interpret the models more into this board. By focussing and cutting out the image, just too the two models, reminds people who may not be familiar with the brand that it is aimed at girls. I wanted to keep this running throughout the brand a reminder of the aimed sex. This is important to me as I am currently the first female only skating brand. I added the pink overlay to give of a more feline hint, and added the symbols to again layer up the board in a more graphic way, inspired by David Carson.

Board 4: Ellie

The picture seen is the original image:

This image was taken within the photoshoot in college, which was set up with the pink camera. As soon as I saw this photograph I knew it had to become a main image to represent my brand. This is not edited at all and the light leek wasn’t done on purpose. Just the whole images says so much. From the model used – Ellie, who represents to me the ideal California skater back in the 70’s with the vintage cap, long flowing hair in the wind, vintage tee, and travelling around with her favourite toy. The light leek instantly bring the image alive, dividing the image into the two colours of my brand pink and blue, with that burnt film effect at the bottom, again adding the age the image. I didn’t want to layer up this with anything else as I feel like the colours used do that for me. I added the logo at the bottom as a reminder to my audience that this nostalgic and beautiful image belongs to that brand.

Board 5: shoes

Orignal Image:

Again I have chosen to focus on just the photography on this final board, as when watching dog town and z-boys they often played a montage of the photography at the time, with music playing over the top, which when I watched didn’t need any explanation the images provided that sense of culture for me. Therefore I decided I wanted to influence bits of the California style into my brand. From a general knowledge of the brand Converse It was popular throughout this time, known as a sneaker, a very stylish and easy shoe. Everyone on the documentary had a pair. I myself have a pair and would describe them as a vintage shoe relating back to a time where skaters would wear them till they disintegrated. I like the strong colours used in this image, with he bold pink representing the feminism of the brand, to the bold white of the shoe.

For a general idea of the logos created within the time zone of my brand inspiration. I type in on Pinterest 70’s surfing logos, hoping this would direct me towards the general theme.

I came to a standstill as I began to become creative with my designs. I looked at the modern day skateboarding logos and they all appear very basic, so did not help me with my creativity. So therefore I needed to understand the general theme to allow mt head to get to grips with the designs of the time.

After looking into these I began to come up with an initial idea, following on from the theme of the the images above.

I began designing:

My annotations read:

My reasoning for including a wave into my design is to show and present the originality of skateboarding, how it came from surfing, it also represents the early days of the culture of the time, which is what my brand is about. I like the idea d the top two designs of the waves page, as I want it to be kept simples it will work well as a logo, to allow it to be recognisable, and allowing added imagery too the logo without it becoming to crowded. Therefore I am choosing the wave as the main image within the logo to represent the original culture. I want the logo to have a effortless finish, with a home made touch.

When looking into designing waves into my logo, I looked up the famous painting – Wave off Kanagawa.

I thought of this famous image, as it is recognisable and known around the world, and did I want to interpret into my logo.

After looking more into the painting, it appeared to represent a tsunami, which isn’t the vibe I want to give off. I also think when creating your own brand you shouldn’t copy others, it has to come from your own originality for the idea of your brand. The wave also did not connect with my brand aim, therefore I chose not to interpret it into my logo.

When again looking into the surfing logos, they often include a figure, again often a man. As it is stereotypically seen as a male sport.

I wanted to use this as inspiration, but put a twist on it to suit my brand. I wanted to use a girl skateboarding the wave. involving the skateboard takes it away from the surfing side, hopefully people will connect this to the culture, and the female representing the gender aim of the brand.

My annotations reading:

1st logo experiment using the girl hair as an undercut of a wave i thought of the idea as when thinking about how I could use the the girls features, so I moved not the hair described to myself as wavy and crazy, when thinking of this I seemed to be describing a wave. Therefore I thought it would be interesting too make the hair apart of the wave as a undercut. However compared to the body size and putting such a big proportion of hair compared to the body may look bit odd. I could move the body more up the wave so the hair isn’t so long and chunky.

More designs.

To create the body which would stand in my logo. I got Zara ( another pupil) to stand in the position of someone who would be actively skateboarding. I then drew from a far the general body shape of which she made.

I came up with this figure:

This then became the outline to which I drew around and adjusted to suit my logo, as can be seen from my drawings.

After doing my designs and creating a name I reevaluated my logos an when looking at them it east screaming my ideas. They looked boring and not appealing.

I felt although I wasn’t using my research as a creative path, I was trying to avoid copying others. However I came to a realisation that in order to get somewhere I needed a starting point. I then looked more into the designs of Verner Patron, as his nostalgic simplistic shapes gave such a vibe off them from doing so little. I then came up with the following designs:

It helped as I started to interpret colour into the logo: using water colour the darken the pink and blue shades.

Firstly I got the inspiration of using the colours blue and pink together from an artist called David Hockney.

On the 1st Of march I went to visit his exhibition in the Tate museum – London.

I felt as though it would give me more inspiration to visit the exhibition in person, rather than looking up his work online, that way you get more of a feel for the art, and surround yourself with the atmosphere of his intentions.

I took the following pictures of my favourites pieces of his:

My favourite imparticular being the bottom left. I want to be able to give off the feel of nostalgia that is what I want my brand to be acocoiated with, and I began to find it hard to do so. The way the he choses to show movement within the picture through the use of the water splashing is a way to represent freedom. The vibrate colours signal happines, I also look towards the weather in the painting, a clear blue sky, surrounded by palm trees, suggesting no me no tension in the air. An expensive home surrounded by nothing but calm happy vibes.

When researching into the painting, I realised it was giving off other connotations which i hadn’t thought about, including the position of the sun, and how that can represent happiness. : Hockneys story for the painting lies as: David Hockney’s A Bigger Splash is an invitation to dreamy thoughts of hot Californian days, with sticky air and the coolness of a plunge in the pool. It is understandable that it inspired both Jack Hazan in the 1970s with his documentary biopic of the artist, and more recently Luca Guadagnino who directed A Bigger Splash. Although the latter doesn’t have much to do with Hockney’s painting, it is very much filled with people sensually diving into swimming pools, glintering in full-beam sunlight. And this is exactly what Hockney depicts: a perfect Californian moment.

This image is something which is highly relatable to my project, as its the exact message I want to represent, being a typical skateboarder along the coast of Santa Monica. From looking and experiencing Hockneys art gave me a boost in creativity for my logo.

After deciding the name and the font, ( which I will talk about in another post ) my final logo appears like this, as printed by lineal.

Throughout my Final Major Project my auntie targeted me from my skills. She saw my ability to create a logo, and knew I had the access to amazing printing facilities. She asked me if I had time out of my project to create her a new logo for her solicitors firm. She offered to pay for my work and printing. I therefore quickly came up with some designs which will be improved on after my project is finished. She gave me a quick brief in which she told me to use the letters ‘K’ and ‘H’ within the logo. The solicitors firm is named Kristina Harrisons.

The old logo looked like this:

Old, boring and not very modern.

I quickly came up with the following designs, which she is happy with so far.

As I knew I wanted to interpret photography mainly into my brand with a certain style, I had to choose wisely which cameras would be the best for this.

I knew I didn’t want to do it digitally, as from the era ( 70’s) I choose inspiration from wasn’t as developed as our digital camera these days so it wouldn’t give off the same vibe I wanted. Therefore I did some of my own research, by asking my parents and grandparents what type of cameras were used within the 70’s. I was told that a lot of polaroids were used, and became very popular at the time, but a cheaper alternate was using a 35mm camera, as the film was a lot cheaper to buy.

I already had a polaroid camera, but the updated fuji film camera, not the original, shake the film polaroids,but gives off the same effect, and is a lot cheaper as it is not classed as vintage.

I had always wanted a 35mm camera so it came in handy that I had to get one for this project. So I found a cheap pentax one, shown on the picture below, came with a flash, and full working. Only 25 pounds. Film costing 1 pound each, so not an expensive buy.

I also spoke to one of my tutors, and she advised using the red Holga camera, as the quality isn’t great and leaves a nice bleed around the image, But gives off a lovely vintage feel. However I never got round to using this camera as i couldn’t find the correct film for it, as it had go have the correct light for it to work, and the film we had was for a low lit area.